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Published: September 27th 2015
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Having caught the bus back to our starting point we joined the rather long queue for the bus to Monseratte Palace. The queue stretched along the block and past the train station. Rather than four bus stops the one had to cater for those doing the Pena Castle loop, the trip to the coast at Cabo Roca, the bus to Cascais and the one we were waiting for which was the bus for Monserraz. We checked the timetable and the arrival time came and went with no sign of our bus. Eventually it turned up and we were two of a handful going to our destination. On our way we passed the Reghleira Palace. built at the start of the 20
th century and was the brainchild of its owner Monteirio and the Italian architect Manini. Full of magical retreats it sounds wonderful but we stayed on the bus . Next stop the Seteais Palace built in the last decade of the 18
thcentury by the dutch consol to Portugal. This is now a hotel.
Our stop was the last on the route - Monserrate Palace . It was first built in 1540 as a chapel. It was leased to the Mello
e Castro family in 1601 . Purchased by Caetano de Mello Castro who was by that time the Viceroy of India. It was the earthquake of 1755 that again devastated the building. By 1790 a gothic palace had been rebuilt on the spot and was rented in 1793 by the Englishman William Beckford who started to turn the garden into an English idyll. By 1856 Francis Cooke another Englishman continued the theme and in Gertrude Jekyll style planted the garden up in the English style.
The house sits in a valley surrounded by mature trees, blue agapanthus by the thousands, roses in season and a lily pond. The house from outside looked positively Indian or at least what an English version of Indian looks like. Alabaster columns in a mogul style , screens, verandahs and balconies. Inside the house was completely empty. I think perhaps it was in the process of being renovated. The walls were all white to reflect the sunlight and keep it cool and all the corridors ran off a central round domed entrance hall which had elegant carvings on the dome. Light and airy it felt very fresh. Gothic arches ran along the lengths of
the long corridors that radiated from the main hall. Pink marble columns held up the upper floors.
We were by this time feeling rather jaded. On a cooler day or perhaps if this was our first treasure of Sintra we could have spent time wandering the gardens. Delightful waterfalls punctuated the landscape of the valley, Indian arches and ornamental lakes full of water lilies in season. A rose garden which would have looked and smelt divine in the heat of the summer sun. A collection of zoo animals, an area of succulents together with a Mexican garden. There were collections of palm trees and Californian Redwoods.
We gave up. But before we left we sampled the local speciality cake an eggy milky concoction only made in Belem. Rather nice it was too. Being abroad broadens your eating habits as well as your mind.
By now it was late afternoon . We still had a shuttle bus to catch to town and a train back to Benfica before catching a bus back to the campismo. It was relatively easy and we arrived back safe and sound after a hectic day in Sintra.
Was it worth it the
hassle? Yes. The castles are interesting and are different from any we have seen before . But it left us with aching feet and now we were not sure if we fancied doing the same again tomorrow. To see Lisboa we would have to catch the bus to the city either getting off at Belem and catching the tram in or the tourist bus or going all the way. The plan had been to sit on a hop on , hop off bus but somehow after all the walking today neither of us felt entirely like putting ourselves through it again. We are not city lovers anyway so if we missed then then we could always try again sometime in the future . That is the beauty of this sort of life . It is not the end of the world . There is always somewhere else to see.
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